Tag Archives: mindset

I’ve always enjoyed the game of badminton and I’ve been playing the game ever since I could remember. I could safely say that I’ve been a decent player with some tournament wins here and there and have also learnt a great deal from this sport. As time passed, I got pretty busy. From playing the game everyday (in high school) to thrice a week and now, barely once a month. Needless to say, my plays naturally declined as I wasn’t playing enough to improve – and that got me thinking.

It is really the same in real life

I’ve known of some really talented tech guys when I first started exploring the industry and I’ve learnt quite a bit from them. However, over the years they’re seen repeating what they already know over and over again to the point where it became obsolete, especially when technology advances so quickly. To cut the long story short, they switched to a different industry. Mind you, they were experts before.

What does this mean?

Many great teachers will tell you that you stop improving when you stop learning, and it is true. No matter how good you are in what you do now, time CAN take its toll on you if you’re not constantly practicing, learning, improving and sharpening your skills. In fact, I think one of the most important trait of a teacher / expert / leader is the willingness to learn and to continuously improve as people will respect that.

A good example would be Mark Schaefer (@MarkWSchaefer) – he’s already good at what he does, he has his own business going, a huge blog community and he can as well just make money by selling his thoughts. But what I think made him so successful in what he does is that he never stops listening, he never stops learning and he never stops growing (which is the name of his blog community, by the way). I would also say the same for Robert Dempsey (@rdempsey), he never stops testing and experimenting on different marketing ideas and strategies and documents them on his site.

What should you do?

#1: Don’t be contented or comfortable on the level you’re at

Yesterday you’ve 10 Friendster accounts with thousands of friends and testimonials (those were the days) in every one of them… today, Friendster is no more. Are you ready to lose out just like that, knowing that you may have the ability to achieve what you could have achieved? Challenge yourself consistently.

It doesn’t need to be big but keep yourself on your toes. Spend some time daily to learn something new. Read articles, watch videos, do something that can help you improve your knowledge / skills in what you do.

#2: Stop giving excuses

Ah, how easy it is to put a task off. We are all master procrastinators at one point or another. The best part is that we often argue ourselves out of it. After all, it makes sense right? Wrong. Here’s the deal – if you’re not gonna make it work, nobody will! So if you really want to improve yourself, get moving!

#3: Set achievable goals

I’ve been reading a number of posts saying new year resolutions don’t matter simply because you won’t fulfill them. I say that’s rubbish. You couldn’t fulfill them simply because you’re doing #2 or you’ve set goals that you may not have been able to achieve anyway! Set goals that are within your means to reach (at least of a start).

Set a short (smaller) term goal followed by a longer (bigger, accumulated) goal. You can’t possibly run for an hour everyday if you haven’t done that in years so start once a week then twice and slowly add to it. You’ll find your goals easier to achieve that way.

#4: Don’t be too hard on yourself

It is very easy to give up, trust me, I know. At times it seems as though all the effort was flushed down the gutter and you feel like throwing the towel. You know what, giving up is easy. But what makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur is that he / she does not give up.

If you ever find yourself in such a situation, you need someone that you can trust to be your support system. Whether it is a loved one, a family member, business partner or a friend, that’s where you should go to, vent, and move forward from there. I definitely have mine.

Have you ever found yourself falling back on what you (or used to) do best?

I can’t help but to notice a pattern among small business owners and start-up entrepreneurs as it would seem that the buzz word among them is “global”. Now, don’t get me wrong as I’m not against being visionary and ambitious but overindulgence in this “global” concept can very well be a mindset that comes into your way in growing your business.

Take any sport as an example – you do not challenge the course with the highest difficulty when you start out simple because it will probably leave you injured or killed (depending on the type of sport). However, it is good to look forward in challenging that course in the future – when you’re fit for it.

So, why should you not think like a big brand? Here are 4 reasons:

#1: Budget

I’ll skip the part explaining the difference in marketing budget between a big brand and a small business but know this – branding and marketing is not dependent on how huge your budget is. Money simply has the potential to speed up the growing (or declining) process of your brand.

Thankfully, the web is favorable to small businesses especially with the introduction of social media. If your target audience is on Facebook, focus on building a relationship with them and grow your network organically. This will create long term traction for your business with significant savings on cost. Don’t be fooled by the misconceptions of social media.

#2: Manpower

With limited manpower on your team, you may not be able to go on a labor intensive campaign such as roadshows or huge events. Forcibly doing so may spread your workforce so thin that it may hurt your business in return. Instead, use this limitation to your advantage by being able to provide a closer communication with your customers.

One of the beauty of a small business is communication. Big brands often let the account managers, sales or marketing team do the job while in small businesses, you as a business owner work on it hands-on and that makes a difference. Focus on providing personalized services and that will keep you ahead of your competitors. Even big brands are moving into personalized services.

#3: Systems and Procedures

Big brands in general have various systems and procedures to keep them in check whether it is for sales, requesting for support or even to get a marketing campaign approved. Sometimes, it takes weeks to get a request approved due to the many departments involved. While the control is there, it is not what your small business should be doing.

Small businesses usually have the luxury of being quick and fluid in decision making thus allowing a shorter turnaround time. Use this to your advantage and keep the ideas going and experiment on them.

#4: Networks and Reputation

Most big brands are already well connected and engaged both online and offline. Having that said, it is likely that their marketing campaigns will automatically gain a whole lot more participation or visibility than what you can achieve with your small business.

Turning that around, you can establish your reputation in local communities and this is something big brands are unlikely to follow. Be targeted in your marketing campaigns and reach out to your target audience individually and grow together with them – this will lower your overheads but gives you a laser-point focus.

Go Small but be Scale-able

Likewise in start-ups or small businesses, instead of thinking about going global and becoming a big brand, think of how can you start SCALING your business towards becoming global. Remember, even big brands started small.

What makes a great entrepreneur? Is it the skills, the mindset, or perhaps the money? So I had a golden opportunity to attend a 2-day conference – Silicon Valley Comes to Malaysia and this conference brought together many great entrepreneurs including Shawn Fanning (co-founder of Napster), Jawed Karim (co-founder of YouTube), Jeff Hoffman (co-founder of Priceline.com), Konstantin Guricke (co-founder of LinkedIn), Naval Ravikant (founder of AngelList), Jonas Kjellberg, Paul Bragiel and many more to encourage and assist local entrepreneurs here in their endeavors.

The two-day conference was filled with power packed sessions and the opportunity to network and build relationships with other entrepreneurs was amazing. I even bumped into Krystle (@mskrys) from Twylah for the first time beyond the avatar.

Okay, enough talking. Let’s (finally) dive into the 14 attributes of how you can make it as an entrepreneur I took home from the Silicon Valley icons themselves:

#1: Codes are the new literacy.

You cannot afford to be technologically illiterate when the world is now built on codes. Learn to code!

#2: Do something that can accelerate and you like.

Start something that is scale-able. Not because of the money, but because it is your passion.

#3: Know what your customers want.

Never get your friend to test your product. Go to the customers.

#4: Given a choice and a limited budget, spend on marketing, NOT an office.

You want to have an office like Google but that can wait. Focus on growing your business first.

#5: You cannot do this alone. Get a co-founder.

You’ll definitely need help. If not for extra hands, you’ll need him / her for morale support.

#6: You’re not as smart as you think you are.

The day you think you’re smart, that’s when you grow otherwise. Listen to what others have to say.

#7: Surround yourself with people smarter than you.

Don’t get intimidated by smarter people. You WANT smarter people to work with you.

#8: Play the role you play best and let others do theirs.

Never designate a role that others can’t play their “A” game in.

#9: Build your team around their goals. Not yours.

Have your team know what they want to achieve and work towards their goal. Support is important.

#10: Document your failure.

Never brush a failure aside thinking you’ve learnt from it. Get to it and examine the cause of the failure.

#11: Don’t hire resumes. Hire character and integrity.

Past experiences do not matter. Hire based on who they are and their contribution.

#12: Don’t change the work to fit the people. Your people should fit a specific business objective.

Don’t change your objectives because of your team. Have your team fit into your objectives.

#13: You will fail. More than once. Get over it!

Failure is a part of life. What makes you think you wouldn’t?

#14: Compile data, connect the dots and ask the big question – “What can I do today that I couldn’t yesterday?”

Be aware of what’s happening outside your comfort zone. Look out for opportunities that wasn’t made available yesterday.

My favorite – Q: “What is the secret to success?” A: “When you’re busy looking for that, I was busy working for it”.

A football coach was looking for a new player for their team. Along with his assistant, they went to scout for the perfect footballer for their team. After several sessions the assistant had his eye set on a player that jumped back unto his feet the moment he was knocked down – even after 3 times. “That’s the player we need”, he exclaimed. The coach simply replied “Get the player that knocked him down 3 times”.- Anonymous

This short story came as a great and timely reminder for me. Preservation is important for entrepreneurs but the continuos spirit to overcome hurdles is vital. Often you hear stories of how entrepreneurs persevered and obtained success but what’s more important is to learn how did they break through challenges after challenges without getting tired.

Which player are you? Or rather, which entrepreneur are you?

One that is on the defense or one on the offense?

It is interesting to see how business owners or marketing people jump straight into Facebook when talking about using social media tools for a marketing campaign. Do Facebook fit into every marketing campaign there is? What is the best social media tool for a marketing campaign?

If you came here to find out what is THAT tool, I’m sorry to disappoint you because there isn’t one. But before you click away, let me tell you why:

#1: You can’t fix a window with a hammer

Similarly, you don’t saw with a pair of pliers. There is a tool out there for your marketing objectives and not every tool is the answer. Get this – even experienced social media experts fall into the trap of using too many tools just because they all seem to fit. Put your marketing objectives first and focus on what is it that you want to accomplish with it THEN select your tools. You don’t drill a hole in your wall only to find that it is too big or small to be used.

Here’s a simple tip that I use often to select compatible tools by using just a paper and pen:

1. Create a master list of ALL the things you can do or can think of using social media
2. Put down your marketing objectives and describe your target audience
3. Now group the items on your list into 4 different categories: the ‘Must Haves’, ‘Good-to-Have’, ‘Maybe Next Time’ and ‘I Don’t Need It’

4. Select your tools!

In this example, you may want to consider having a Facebook page, host a simple contest to get fans to share about the event, encourage fans to post photos from the event to win something, place QR codes at the event to uncover a mystery gift or use Foursquare to reward visitors at your event. As for ideas on how to improve your event further, you’ve got the ‘Maybe Next Time’ column to help you out.

#2: You cannot build a house with a single screwdriver

From the very same example you’ll also find that although your target audience are on Facebook, it should not be your only answer when it comes to social media marketing. At times you’ll be required to include other tools to complement your marketing campaigns such as a microsite (it can be a blog), a QR campaign for on-ground interactivity, a Foursquare special to reward loyalty or a mobile app containing an event directory and itinerary and more!

The larger your objectives are, the larger the campaign will be, and the more tools you’ll (likely) have to use but it all begins with setting the objectives right and keeping with it.

My Recommendation?

Get yourself a social media Swiss knife. I use the above method almost all the time. What about you?

The dot-com era was the beginning of really exciting times. It was revolutionary. It was the beginning of people willing to spend money for something that is intangible like a .com domain name. We can definitely learn a lot from those days. A couple of weeks I go I wrote about 5 lessons we can learn from the dot-com boom and bust and that’s not all!

Mentality #1: Let’s play monopoly

It is interesting that many businesses create a blog, a Facebook page and a Twitter account just because it is “the right thing to do”, to keep up with technology just like how .com domain names were sold like hotcakes during the dot-com boom. Businesses are busy securing .com sites social media accounts even though they have no plans of using them.

While that may seem like a normal thing to do, social media is a different playing field altogether especially if you’re registering the accounts under a similar name such as your brand or company name. A simple query on Google will be able to reveal all of them… buried with dust, which ultimately affects your credibility.

Mentality #2: If it’s online, it’s global

During the dot-com boom, many had the impression that as long they have a website, they can easily be found. True, but also VERY wrong. It is true that if you’ve a website or a social media account your business is accessible globally. However the question is – whether you can be found among the mass of information and websites out there. Even if Facebook has 600 million users, it does not guarantee you 600 million impressions if you have a Facebook page. In fact, it takes hard work to even get your first 1,000 followers if you’re a small business.

Remember, social media is merely a tool – you’ll still need to get down and get it to work for you and people today often rely on search engines and personal recommendations (e.g. Facebook likes, Tweets, blogs and comments) to locate what they need online.

Mentality #3: Information (Part 1) – That’s all I need on my website

Yes, information is important and it still is today. Imagine yourself going onto a website only to find nothing about that particular business. It sure defeats the purpose of having a website. The thing is, businesses should also understand that people today demand more than just information.

Let me ask you this question: would you rather buy from someone that has only pure information or someone with an updated blog and perhaps an active Facebook page?

What makes things worse are sites that have dates beneath their home page that dates back to the past. Does that imply that you’re out of business in the present day?

Mentality #4: Information (Part 2) – The more the merrier

Remember how websites looked back then? Presenting to you the all-powerful frames:

It was really something. Businesses were able to display even more information within a single screen. But is that the case today? Clearly not. In fact, search engines are not very happy with frames. Sites today display a minimalistic outlook to simplify the message – doing away with jargons and boring texts. Is your website overloaded with information? Less is more!

Mentality #5: The almighty enquiry form

The enquiry form is perhaps one of the most important addition to almost every business websites out there. After all, it is one of the easiest way for customers to keep in touch with you. Don’t get me wrong – it still is a powerful tool today. The question is – is it enough?

I don’t know about you but I personally do not like enquiry forms especially if I only have a short / simple question to ask. I’d rather leave a comment, a post on their Facebook wall or a Tweet. Imagine filling in all the fields on the enquiry form just to ask “are you open this weekend?”. Plus, there somehow is a feeling of a ‘black hole’ when submitting an enquiry form – you do not know whether it is actually sent. On social media platforms, you know they’ve received it for sure.

Do you fall into any one of the mentalities above? What other dot-com mentalities have you noticed today? I’d love to hear them :)

I was hungry one afternoon and I did not want to leave the house as it has been really hot where I’m at lately. I thought that since I’ve not had pizza for quite some time, I could just order one and have it delivered within 30 minutes – after all, that’s their service promise. To top if off, they now have a tracking service so I’ll know where my pizza is at. Cool!

So I placed my order at 2.32pm, expecting it to arrive at 3.02pm and you’ve guessed it – it did not arrive then. “No problems”, I thought. “I’ll just get a free pizza on my next order and delays do happen anyway.”

3.15pm and the pizza has yet to arrive and this is where I decided to put Dominos Malaysia’s customer service to test. I called up the call centre and reported my “missing” pizza in which they told me that perhaps the rider was lost and advised me to give him another 5 minutes else I should call them back.

10 minutes passed, 3.30pm and still no sign of the pizza. I called Dominos as they told me to and they told me to wait for another 5 to 10 minutes and that there is nothing that he (the sales rep) can do to help. Shocked by his reply, I probed further and he then said his manager may be able to do something about it but he isn’t free at the moment and mentioned that the manager will call me back the moment he is free.

3 Basic Customer Service Mistakes That Should NOT Be Brought To Social Media

Lesson #1: Don’t Assume If You Aren’t Sure

5 minutes. Are you sure? If there’s one thing in common in most customer service personnel, they give inaccurate information or in other words, false hope. They give a solution that is of most convenient to them and hope that it’ll never come back to them.

On social media platforms, it is worse. When a customer posts a question or complain on your blog / Facebook page / timeline, they are most likely already confused or dissatisfied with you and should be handled with care. If you do not know the answer, seek for help or offer to discuss the solution privately via email (and get someone to help you out!). Do not ever give answers for the sake of giving them.

Lesson #2: Be Careful of What You Speak

Like it or not, you’re representing your brand and saying “I can’t do anything to help” can be detrimental, even though it was not meant in that way. This may be more difficult to do over the phone but you’ve got no excuse if it is on the computer screen.

Take some time to structure your words before clicking on the “submit”, “update” or “tweet” button.

Lesson #3: Do What You’ve Said You’ll Do… and Don’t Take Too Long

The last thing customer wants is to wait. Get back to them within the shortest time frame possible! If you’ve said you would call, email or reply to their enquiry, do so! I personally think that no business should take more than 24 hours to respond. Anything more will clearly spell out to the customer that you’re N.O.T.I.N.T.E.R.E.S.T.E.D.

It won’t look good if the same customer posts on your wall for the 2nd time demanding for a reply. Remember, everyone is watching!

Is there any other mistakes you think should be avoided at all cost on social media? Share them below!

By the way, the pizza came at about 3.40pm and I received a standard voucher for a free pizza on my next order but still no phone call from them.

Having worked and talked with a number of businesses in Malaysia, I find that there are 5 groups of people out there when it comes to taking on social media. Whether they are small business owners, marketing personnel from large corporations or even individuals, they all seem to fall into one of the groups below:

Group 1: The Fans

You know social media is the way forward. You embrace it no matter where they are or the situation that they’re in. You know your way in and out of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter.You are very active and you’re everywhere – perhaps the first to jump on that new social network recently launched – there is just no social media tool you will miss, as long there is “social media” labeled on it.

Group 2: The Skeptics

You feel that social media is a trend and it will soon fade away simply because conventional media still reigns. Perhaps you’ve tried this social media thingy and found that it does not work for you and does not see how it can for others, too. You may see it as a gimmick that marketing agencies are trying to sell and you just don’t see why would anyone want to follow your business on Twitter or check-in to your business on Foursquare. Social media is overrated.

Group 3: The Navigators

These are the people that know their way around social media. You know what are the best tools around, what works and what does not, what tools to use for a particular situation. You see the potential of social media and know how it can both benefit and fail your business depending how it is managed. You’ve all the knowledge and is constantly learning and you’re good in putting together strategies and plans to make it work for you.

Group 4: The Lurkers

Or perhaps also known as readers. You go around reading blog posts, tweets from specific #hashtags, following those at the top in the industry, always accumulating knowledge on your own. Yes, you may have your own social media accounts but they are just avenues for you to obtain information or maybe even to keep tabs on your competitors. You may also be feeling inadequate because others seem to be more knowledgeable / experienced than you.

Group 5: The Creators

Just the opposite of Lurkers – you create content and participate across social media platforms. You’ve that burning desire within you to keep sharing what you have, not afraid of what another may think of you. Chances are you already have a blog and is on Twitter or Facebook (at least) to get your words and thoughts out. You’re participating in chats, communities, groups and comments. You’re doing it as a way to express your thoughts and ideas.

Which Group Do You Fall Under?

So, how do you see yourself on social media? I say I’m a little bit of a creator + navigator (and fan :p) when it comes to social media, simply because I get excited when talking to people about it and even more so when the question pops “how can my business use social media?”.

Before Doing Anything, Know Yourself

Many times individuals and businesses fail on social media because they THOUGHT they should be what they aren’t. Unless you’re a master of disguise, the consumers can see through you right away. Understand that there is no right or wrong group to fall under.

However, if you’re only obsessed about content creation, don’t neglect lurking once in awhile. If you’re all about lurking, maybe you should put your knowledge together and be a navigator instead. Too much of a group can also be your downfall.

We’ve read of many articles talking about to go about setting up social media policies in your company, how to involve your employees in enforcing them like in IBM and the importance of having some sort of guidelines at the very least. I too, agree with such importance but what happens when one breaks the policy; or in a worse case scenario, defamed your brand / business on the vast world of social media networks?

Now, I’m talking about a step beyond negative comments. It’s more of a direct allegation or news that may affect your brand image.

Perhaps you could warn or fire that particular employee. But what if the person who accused / defamed your business isn’t part of your company? What will you do? Or rather, what can you do?

There was this incident that happened very recently where I’m at about this guy, pretty well known for his presence on social media (he blogs and comments on social issues) and he Tweeted a (later found untrue) statement about an employee from one of Malaysia’s top publishing companies. The tweet said something about the employee being disrespected and mistreated by her employees AND employers.

To cut the long story short, the guy then had to apologize 100 times on Twitter over three days, admitting that he has indeed defamed the publishing company and he finally completed his ‘sentence’ at about 7pm today (Saturday).

I say this as an interesting incident only because of the unique ‘punishment’ of posting 100 tweets – definitely the first I’ve seen which led me to think:

Is it necessary?

Is it effective to begin with?

What would be the best way to punish / address someone in a situation such as this?

What do YOU think?

Just last week I had the opportunity to sit down with a number of university students to talk about branding strategies in general. We explored the current campaigns, both successful and those that are not, whether it is through social media or conventional media – it was an interesting discussion and here are their 4 perceptions on social media:

Perception #1: Big Companies Do Not Need Social Media

Interestingly all of them think that social media isn’t necessary for big companies, simply because they are already well known. However, they do see social media as a necessity for small businesses to establish a wider presence among the consumer market and the reason they say so is because they see that…

Perception #2: Social Media is All About Promotion

The students felt that social media is their world – for them to connect, stay in touch and have fun. Brands come on simply to advertise and to promote their products.

Perception #3: It’s Not Necessary to Have Social Media if You’ve Good Customer Service

Upon bringing up social media tools as a customer service platform, they thought it can indeed be a great addition but follows to indicate that there is no need for it if your business already have good customer service through phone calls or e-mails.

Perception #4: Viral Videos Can Be ‘IT’ But May Not Convert

They love viral videos and they will share them without a doubt. Will they buy the product? Not necessarily. This goes the same for any other social media promotional campaigns e.g. contests, apps and etc.

Having Seen the Perceptions Above, Could Marketers Be Wrong?

Being a believer of social media myself, I was shocked to hear their thoughts but at the same time, they made perfect sense simply because there has to be a reason why the perception towards social media is as such.

Are brands / businesses doing it wrong on social media?What could be the cause of such perception towards social media? What do you think?